The 'matter compiler': Atomic Machines turns code into working micro-machines
Key points
Key takeaways from an MTS interview with Atomic Machines founder and CEO Jeff Holden (October 2026):
Out of stealth. Atomic Machines emerged from six years in stealth with a $250M raise and a new manufacturing system, the Matter Compiler, that builds working micro-machines directly from code, plus its first device built with that system, PrimeSwitch.
What the Matter Compiler is. Holden describes it as a software compiler taken all the way to a physical object: whatever you express in its input language, it builds a machine for you. It is a "combinatorial constructor" — the same hardware can turn out machines as different as a micro-robot for neurosurgery, PrimeSwitch and a micro-manipulator — the first manufacturing system in history, he says, that takes varied inputs and produces varied machines.
No tooling. There is no per-product tooling, no retooling and no device-specific process development: different code on the same machine can make three of one device, a million of another and 50 of a third at once, which he says leads to "excellent economics" for manufacturing.
Error correction. Every operation is inspected immediately with high-accuracy metrology and the result is fed back to the AI as an error term, making processes composable and reliable — like "an analog-to-digital converter for matter".
PrimeSwitch. The first device fills the gap between semiconductor switches (fast and arc-free, but they bleed energy as heat) and electromechanical switches (very low resistance but slow). In AI data centres moving to 800V DC, where megawatt racks push 1,250 amps, PrimeSwitch sits next to the semiconductor: the semiconductor conducts only while the switch changes state, so 99.99% of the time current flows through PrimeSwitch and far less energy is lost as heat.
Foundry model. Atomic Machines will first bring its own devices to market, then open the system as a foundry where customers decide what gets built, iterate quickly, and prototype and manufacture in real time — interfacing with an AI rather than traditional EDA tools, "where some of the output tokens are physical".
Mission. The stated mission is "on-demand, universal command of matter", framed in David Deutsch's language as the universal constructor — given digital input, build any stable configuration of atoms that quantum mechanics allows. The name echoes Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, in which a "matter compiler" builds objects from a description.
Read more: MTS on YouTube
